Worlds to Conquer: The Art & Making of Walt Disney’s Fantasia

The concept: the world’s greatest music, presented according to the highest acoustic standard, and illustrated by the brilliance of the Disney studio at the height of its powers. The journey of how Fantasia came to be, beset with almost insurmountable challenges, is one of the most breathtaking in movie history. In 1940, Walt Disney released his third feature film: Fantasia, consisting of eight animated segments set to music by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The film was groundbreaking: it was the first to record using multiple audio channels in a process called Fantasound, the precursor to surround sound. Apart from its technical achievements, Fantasia is remembered as being the first Disney movie meant not only for children. With emotional depth and innovative techniques that pushed the boundaries of animated storytelling, Fantasia was the first to appeal to an audience of every age.

To celebrate The Walt Disney Company’s 100th Anniversary, author J.B. Kaufman presents the definitive history of the making of Fantasia, from source material to hundreds of photographs documenting the film’s production. In Worlds to Conquer, become a part of the wild ride that was the making of a Disney classic.